St. Landry democrat., 1887-05-07
TALMAGES SERMON.
Special Discourse to Store Clerks
and Their Customers.
The Early Trials of the Future Salesman
Patience and Submission to Discip-
line Necessary-The Faults of EN-
pIoyers-Some Mean Customers.


the Brooklyn Tabernacle, Rev T. De Witt
Talmage chose: 'Behind the Counter;
or, Trials and Encouragements of Sales
men and Saleswomen.n He took the two
following passages as his text:
And n certain woman named Lydia a seller
purple, of the City Of Thyatira. which wor
SHIPPED God, heard US; whose heart the Lord
opened.-Acts xvi. a.
Seest though man diligent in his business?
He shall stand before kings.-Proverbs xxi,
80
The first passage introduces to you
Lydia, a Christian merchantess. Her bust
ness is to deal in purple cloths or silks.
She is not giggling nonentity, but prac-
teal woman, not ashamed to work for her
living. All the other women of Philippi
and Thyatira have been forgotten; but
God has made immortal in our tie xt Lydia,
the Christian saleswoman.
The other text shows you man with
head, and hand, and heart, and foot, all
busy toiling on up until he gains prince
ly success.
Seest thou man diligent in his business! He
shall stand before Kings.
Great encouragement in these two pas
sages for men and women who will be
Uuol. Due HO SOidCt lOE LuOSo VINO are
waiting for good luck to show them, at
the foot of the rainbow, casket of buried
gold.
1t is folly for anybody in this world to
wait for something to turn up. 1t will
turn down. The law of thrift is as in.
exorable as the law of the tides. Fortune,
the magician, may wave her arm in that
direction until castles and palaces come;
lint hn oft ay1ybil q
wand and all the splendors will vanish
into thin air. There are certain styles of
behavior which lead to usefulness, honor
and permanent success, and there are
certain styles of behavior which lead to
dust, dishonor and moral default. | would
like to fire the ambition Of young people.
l have no sympathy with those who
would prepare young folks for life by
whiting down their expectations That
man or woman will be worth nothing to
church or State who begins life coWed
down. The business of Christianity is not
to Quench but to direct human ambition.
Therefore it is that I come out this m orn-
ing and utter words of encouragement to
those who are occupied as clerks in the
stores, and shops, and banking houses of
the country.
In the first place, l counsel clerks to re-
member that for the most part their
clcrkship is only school from which
they are to be graduated. 1t takes about
eight years to get one of the learned pro-
LESSONS. 1t takes about eight years to
get to be merchant Some of you will
be clerks all your lives, but the vast ma
jority of you are only in transient posi-
ton After awhile, some December day,
the head men Of the firm will call you in
to the back Office, and they will say to
you:
Now, you have done well by US; we
are going to do we'll by you. We invite
you to have an interest in our concern"
You will bow to that edict very grace
fully. Getting into street car to go
home an old comrade will meet you and
say:
What makes you look so happy to-
nIght?'
''Oh," you will say, nothing, nothing"
But in few days your name will bios
som on the sign. Either In the store or
bank where you are now, or in some store
Or bank, you will take higher position
than that which you now occupy. SO |
feel to-day that l am standing be-
fore people who will yet have
their hand on the helm of the
worlds commerce, and you will turn it
this way or that; now clerks, but to be
bankers, importers, insurance company
directors, shippers, contractors. superin
tendents of railroads-your voice mighty
'son ange''--standing foremost in the
great financial and religious enterprises
of the day For, though we who are in
the professions may, on the platform,
plead for the philanthropies, after all the
merchants must come with their millions
to sustain the movement.
Be, therefore, patient and diligent in
this transient position. You are now
where you can learn things you can never
learn in any other place. What you con-
slider your disadvantages are your grand
opportunity. You see an affluent father
some day come down on a prominent
street with his son, who has just gradu-
ated from the university, and establish
ing him in business, putting 500, 900 Of
capital in the store. Well, you are envi-
Gus. You say:
20, if only had chance like that
young man-if 1 only had father to put
SlO0, 600 in business for me, then would
have some chance in the world"
Be not envious. You have advantages
over that young man which he has not
over you. AS well might come down to
the docks when vessel is about to sail
for Valparaiso, and say:
LET me pilot this ship out of the Mar
rows"
''Why, would sink crew and cargo be-
fore / got out of the harbor, simply be-
cause / know nothing about pilotage.
The second counsel I have to give to the
clerks who are here to-day, is that you
seek out what are the lawful regulations
of your establishment, and then submit
to them. Every well ordered house has
its usages. In military life, on ships
deck, in commercial life, there must be
order and discipline. Those people who
do not learn how to obey, will never know
how to command. I will tell you what
young man will reach ruin, financial and
moral; it is the young man who thrusts his
thumb into his vest and says:
aNohodv shall dictate to me- am NV own